{"id":132643,"date":"2012-12-14T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=132643"},"modified":"2012-12-26T16:03:13","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T21:03:13","slug":"everyone-hates-citizens-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/12\/14\/everyone-hates-citizens-united\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone Hates Citizens United"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Article:<\/strong> Everyone hates Citizens United<\/a> by Alex Sietz-Wald in Salon.<\/p>\n

The Text:<\/strong> Maybe it\u2019s the fact that people are tired of having their favorite TV shows as a side dish to political attack ads this time of year, but a new poll shows that Americans think there\u2019s way too much money in politics. Almost 90 percent of respondents agree there\u2019s too much corporate money in politics, with 51 percent strongly agreeing, according to a new poll released today by the Corporate Reform Coalition. The poll of 804 Americans was conducted by the Democratic-leaning P.R. firm Bannon Communications.<\/p>\n

The survey found that 76 percent of Americans support a requirement that corporations publicly disclose their contributions to groups that funnel money into politics, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, 81 percent think corporations should only spend money on political campaigns if they disclose their spending immediately, while 80 percent said they think companies should have to get approval from shareholders before getting involved in politics. These two questions reflect two of the most prominent ideas pushed by campaign finance reformers. The DISCLOSE Act, a bill that has so far been blocked by Republicans on Capitol Hill, would significantly bolster disclosure regulations for election spending, while activist shareholders and some state legislatures have tried to give shareholders sway over how the companies they invest in spend resources on political action. The Corporate Reform Coalition is a coalition of progressive, mostly good government, groups fighting Citizens United and corporate money in politics.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But corporate money is only one piece of the problem. A new study from Public Citizen notes that most super PACS only support a single candidate, a fact that undermines the Supreme Court\u2019s argument in the Citizens United decision. Of the more than 100 super PACs that have spent at least $100,000 so far this year, 65 were active in only a single race. These single-candidate groups \u2014 which include two of the biggest ones, the Mitt Romney-backing Restore Our Future and the Obama-backing Priorities USA \u2014 account for 55 percent of the $370 million spent by all active super PACs so far. But most, 69 groups, are devoted solely to congressional elections, and 39 of those have worked on behalf of only one candidate.<\/p>\n

Taylor Lincoln of Public Citizen says the real importance of the study is not about the numbers but about the intellectual foundation of the Supreme Court\u2019s Citizens United decision. In the decision, the Court agreed that very large direct contributions to candidates can be corrupting, so the government can and should regulate them. But the Court also said that independent spending groups, like super PACs, can\u2019t possibly be corrupting because it\u2019s done independently of candidates, so there\u2019s no opportunity for quid pro quos. \u201cThe whole point of our report is that that\u2019s a fictional distinction,\u201d Lincoln explained. With super PACs, which are often started by former staffers of the candidate, politicians can essentially set up parallel candidate committees \u201doutside the walls of the campaign finance system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, this has become pretty clear in the two years since the court\u2019s ruling. Someone seeking to influence a candidate may actually have a far easier time doing it now than before the case, because they can give so much more money than they ever could. This is hardly shocking news, but the numbers add some compelling details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Article: Everyone hates Citizens United by Alex Sietz-Wald in Salon. The Text: Maybe it\u2019s the fact that people are tired of having their favorite TV shows as a side dish to political attack ads this time of year, but a new poll shows that Americans think there\u2019s way too much money in politics. Almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nEveryone Hates Citizens United<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new poll shows the vast majority of Americans think there's too much money in politics.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/12\/14\/everyone-hates-citizens-united\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Everyone Hates Citizens United\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new poll shows the vast majority of Americans think there's too much money in politics.\" \/>\n<meta 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